Mike Couzens has been named manager of broadcasting and media relations, the Fort Wayne TinCaps announced today.Matt Lollis is tough to miss.
At 6-foot-7 and 230 pounds, the right-handed pitcher looks more suited for blocking on a football field or posting someone up on the basketball court.
But outside of a few pickup basketball games in high school, Lollis never really gave those other sports a try. He put his focus squarely on baseball early. And with good results.
Lollis will be the starting pitcher for the TinCaps today when they open the playoffs with Great Lakes. Game 1 of the best-of-three first-round series starts at 7:05 p.m. at Parkview Field.
“It’s a great opportunity for me,” Lollis said. “I’m hoping I can go out there and get back on track. My last couple of starts have been shaky. I’m hoping I’ve got those out of the way and when the playoffs start, hopefully I’ll have a good start and keep my team in the ballgame and give us a chance to win the first game and get off to a good start.”
Lollis has a 5-2 record and a 1.66 ERA since joining Fort Wayne from San Diego’s short-season team in Eugene, Ore., on July 22. In 54 1/3 innings, he has struck out 54 batters and walked 13. Opponents have a .234 batting average against Lollis.
“He has four quality pitches that he throws over for strikes. He’s a guy who goes out and pounds the strike zone,” TinCaps pitching coach Bronswell Patrick said. “He keeps hitters off balance, and he pitches to both sides of the plate. I give him the ball for Game 1 because he has been solid and pretty consistent since he’s got here. He’ll give us a good chance.
“(His size is) definitely an intimidation factor. That’s what so good about him. He’ll come right at you. He moves the ball in and out. He’s not afraid to pitch inside. That’s a big key.”
The 19-year-old isn’t afraid to swing a bat, either. He was forced to hit because of an error in the lineup card on Aug. 12 against Lake County and went 1 for 3 with a double.
San Diego selected Lollis in the 15th round of the 2009 draft out of Riverside (Calif.) Community College. He pitched at least five innings in each of his first eight starts with the TinCaps, including going into the eighth inning on back-to-back starts Aug. 18 and 23.
“He came in and sucked up a lot of innings for us,” TinCaps manager Jose Flores said. “Any time a guy can come in like that and give us that many innings also helps our bullpen.”
His most recent outing was his shortest.
He gave up one earned run on six hits in 4 1/3 innings Friday at South Bend.
“I’ve been a little off with my rhythm,” Lollis said. “My delivery has been a little off to the first-base side a little bit. I’ve kept trying to hammer those things out (in pregame bullpen sessions).”
Lollis is 1-0 against Great Lakes this season. He gave up one run on seven hits and struck out seven in 6 1/3 innings of an Aug. 2 game at Dow Diamond.
“With the competitive nature that he has and the bulldog attitude that he has on the mound, you couldn’t go anywhere else,” Flores said. “Hopefully he’ll remember what he did what was effective that last start against them to double that come (today).”
